Stupak sees devil in the details of pending Great Lakes Compact

U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak says the Great Lakes Compact is on a fast track to approval, and folks can "kiss the Great Lakes goodbye" if that happens.

The compact, designed to protect the Great Lakes from large withdrawals, contains a loophole that would commercialize water, contends Stupak, D-Menominee.

That would prevent the U.S. government from restricting future exploitation of the region's water, he said during a visit to Bay City on Thursday.

The Senate passed the interstate water agreement last month after years of debate in Michigan and other Great Lake states. The House goes back into session on Monday and President Bush has indicated he'll sign the legislation if it passes. The compact is before the House Judiciary Committee, headed by U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit.

Stupak has asked Conyers to insert language into a bill report to clarify that "our water is not for sale," and that commercialization of water is not the compact's intent.

Adding that language to the report would allow the House to pass the compact without sending it back to the states for reapproval, Stupak said.

The compact allows water to be exported outside the basin in containers smaller than 5.7 gallons or in larger containers if the water is incorporated into other products like steel or beer.

Stupak argues that the compact's current reference to water as a product would open up Great Lakes water to the North American Free Trade Agreement and other pacts.

That would likely result in more water bottling plants locating along the Great Lakes, and calls in future years to pipe lake water to parched regions, he said.

"It's taken the states years to negotiate, so why do we have to do it in two days?" Stupak said.

He thinks legislators who have endorsed the compact - most everyone but him - have forgotten that water should be held in the public trust rather than for monetary interests.